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Using a computer algebra system (Maple) to teach elementary queueing theory
Author(s) -
Place Jerry,
Fitzgerald Sue
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
computer applications in engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.478
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1099-0542
pISSN - 1061-3773
DOI - 10.1002/cae.6180030109
Subject(s) - maple , computer science , symbolic computation , queueing theory , coursework , workstation , software , range (aeronautics) , theoretical computer science , algebra over a field , division (mathematics) , linear algebra , computational science , mathematics , programming language , mathematics education , operating system , arithmetic , pure mathematics , mathematical analysis , computer network , botany , materials science , composite material , biology , geometry
Computer algebra systems such as Maple, Mathematica, and MACSYMA are readily available for a wide range of PCs and workstations. Many college campuses have site licenses for these software tools and make them widely available to students through PC labs, across networks, and on time‐sharing systems. In addition, student versions of these software tools are widely available at nominal cost. Computer algebra systems provide sophisticated computational support and are intuitive to use. In this article we describe how we use Maple to support an upper‐division undergraduate course teaching elementary queueing theory. We discuss the significant enhancement added by using Maple for this coursework. We present the traditional approach to this material (i.e., deriving the closed form solutions for a specific queueing model), then we show how we approach the material using numerical solutions based on the general equations for steady state probabilities for a Poisson Birth‐Death process. We present several examples and discuss the strengths of our approach.